


(i'll make you understand and) you can trade me for an apparition

by forthekidswhoaintgotnosoul



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Canon Compliant, Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Ghost!Dave, Klaus Doesn't Know How To Cope, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves Needs Help, Klaus Hargreeves-centric, M/M, Post S2, The Hargreeves Siblings Are Trying, Time travelling shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:01:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26174638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forthekidswhoaintgotnosoul/pseuds/forthekidswhoaintgotnosoul
Summary: Suddenly it felt like all the air had left his lungs."Dave?", he choked out.Or, the Hargreeves return to Dallas and Klaus meets Dave's ghost
Relationships: Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz
Comments: 17
Kudos: 135





	1. we'll celebrate the end of things with cheap champagne

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am once again trying to write an actual fucking tua fic. we'll see how that goes, although since i'll be stuck with crappy internet for the next week i'll hopefully be writing quite a bit :) unfortunately that also means i can't really research stuff and since i don't know jack about dallas or living in america in general i apologize for any inaccuracies  
> title taken from our lady of sorrows by mcr  
> the original title for this was "did the devil sign your check?", a line from the song that plays from the jukebox in the last volume of dallas but i decided to use mcr lyrics bc im edgy like that and also formatting fic titles (like) this makes me feel hip. not very relevant but i just wanted 2 share

The victory of successfully returning to the year 2019 was very short-lived. It was quickly overshadowed by Reginald Hargreeves not only being alive and well, with a new set of fucked up adopted children, amongst them their dead brother's clone; but also threatening to call the police on the Once-Hargreeves within minutes of their appearance in his mansion. Their father clearly didn't want anything to do with them in this timeline and while it should have been a relief it still hurt. 

With no established lives in the City the siblings didn't have a lot of options. None of them had valid identifications on them, and it was safe to assume most of them weren't American citizens even if none of them knew what their selves were up to in this reality. 

"We'll lay low, for the time being", Five announced when they were all squeezed into a booth at Griddy's (whether they had been bigger in the old timeline or they simply hadn't been there in a while no one could tell) in various states of upset and dissarray. 

"What a genius plan!", Diego commented sarcastically, nearly smashing his pink-glazed donut into the table in his frustration. 

"At least we're all together", Allison, always the one trying to keep the spirit, said softly.  
"Cheers", Klaus raised his flask and toasted into the air.

So, lay low they did. 

They from town to town, since there was no real point in staying in the City anymore, where no one knew them. All it did was remind them of the once-was. 

They crammed into tiny, run-down motel rooms and slept on too-hard beds.  
'At least we're all together' quickly turned into a curse rather than a blessing.  
The Hargreeves had never been good at interacting with each other.  
There was a lot to unpack, years of trauma and secret grudges and annoying habits. But no one could leave. The idea of trying to build yet another life that would be torn away from them was too painful, so they were stuck together and miserable.  
There was a lot of fighting, a lot of accusations and evenings spent in icy silence after hour-long shouting matches. It wasn't great.

"We have to go back to Dallas", Five announced one morning as they were eating a crappy breakfast served at a highway diner. 

"Why's that?", Luther frowned. Everyone had long accepted Five being being in charge of the decision making, but, while they all had wildly different experiences in the town, none of them were eager to go back. 

"You", Five pointed at Klaus, who had been poking at his pancakes with little interest and withholding from the conversation, mostly due to the killer hangover he was currently nursing.  
"Moi?", he asked, genuinely wondering how it was his fault they had to go Dallas. Klaus never wanted to return to that place, like, ever. 

"You have an inheritance to claim", Five finished, aggressively stabbing a slice of bacon with his fork.  
"What kind of inheritance does Klaus have in Dallas?", Allison asked curiously. All eyes were on him now, even though Klaus was just as confused as the rest of them.

Five finished chewing his rather leather-like bacon and smirked "I did some research. Apparently the old lady who enabled your nasty cult" 

"Maggie", Klaus supplied, smiling fondly. Margaret Van Busshoysen had been absolutely nuts to fall for his little tricks, but he didn't harbor any resentment towards her. How could he, when she had made his life in the sixties as comfortable as it could be?

"Maggie", Five was obviously annoyed at the unnecessary interruption, "left all her money in a bank account when she died, in case "The Prophet"" he made finger quotes in the air and Allison and Diego rolled their eyes, "would ever return. And that already ...pretty sum has been gathering interests since the sixties"

"Aww, that's nice", was all Klaus could come up with in reaction to this new information. He knew Maggie had no family of her own but he had always suspected the cult had bled her dry. And he certainly didn't expect her to take care of him even after her death. 

"That money will give us enough resources so I can finally focus on my calculations to get us back to the original timeline" , Five concluded.  
"Hey, that's my money", Klaus argued. He didn't really care, but he still felt like at least pointing it out. Five might be the oldest and possibly even the smartest, but he didn't get to make all their decisions for them. 

Unfortunately, none of his siblings were willing to back him up on that.  
"That you would no doubt invest in drugs and booze, so you will not be in charge of it", Five replied, unbothered.  
He was not wrong. 

"How will we get it? We don't technically exist", Vanya reminded them, maybe to stop the argument before it had really begun.  
"We'll have to ... improvise a few documents", Five admitted.  
But it was clear their brother had already decided on their next steps and there was no point in arguing with him. 

"So, Dallas it is", Diego sighed. No one was too happy about it. 

It took them a day to get to Dallas.  
They travelled in a car they had, um, borrowed back in the city and took turns driving, so they wouldn't have to spend what little money they had left to their names on motels. 

Dallas was uglier than Klaus remembered (still nicer than the City, though) or maybe he just didn't want to remember it at all.  
It was late when they arrived and Five decided he would go and obtain the documents they needed, despite not having slept in almost 24 hours. He took off with Diego and Vanya, while Luther, Allison and Klaus hung back at yet another crappy motel.  
There might have been more cracks on the walls in this one, or maybe a few more spiders crawling around, no one really cared. 

They were tired from the long drive and struggling to cope with the memories creeping up on them. Not much was said.  
Klaus knew a thing or two about ghosts and he could definitely tell whose ghost was haunting Allison right now. 

"I'm gonna go out", Klaus mumbled around 1am.  
No one payed much attention as he threw on his coat and left the motel.  
Even in a more stable state Allison or Luther wouldn't have asked, they could take a good guess where Klaus was going. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil might as well be the Hargreeves' family motto. 

The city of Dallas had changed in 50 years, but Klaus still knew how to maneuver the streets.  
He walked fast, partly due to the hot itch burning under his skin, a craving for somethingsomethingsomething, just to feel a bit better. Partly because if he stood still for to long he knew the ghosts, both metaphorical and real, would catch up on him. 

He needed a drink or, preferably, something stronger. That would fix things. 

Vodka would have to do for now. He obtained a cheap bottle at a gas station and kept walking, no real direction in mind. 

He just didn't want to go back to their room and sit in silence with Allison and Luther, bask in their collective misery.  
Maybe he would find something interesting to do, a bar or night club perhaps, or someone more entertaining than his siblings to spend the night with. 

Klaus maneuvered through the sea of ghosts, screeching and moaning at him, bleeding out of various wounds, dripping with water or puss or vomit, their clammy hands trying to reach for him.  
Sometimes Klaus used to try and guess the way they had died but he had little interest in interacting with them tonight, he just wanted to get shitfaced and forget what hellhole he had ended up in once again.  
(More than anything it was the guilt that consumed him, but Klaus was never one to dissect his emotions, preferring to laugh and smoke them away.) 

He ended up drinking alone on a park bench. Not one of his best moments, but it got the job done.  
Things were just a little lonely, without Ben. Klaus surely had gotten used to his presence over the last almost two decades.  
Normally his brother's ghost would be scolding him right now, reminding him of his duty to his siblings and spitting other morally superior bullshit.

Klaus wondered if the banker tomorrow would be more likely to get suspicious it Klaus showed up reeking off booze and slurring his words. Probably. 

But Ben wasn't around to convince him to stop drinking and go home, so Klaus kept at it and smoking cigarette after cigarette and looking up to the moon to avoid the ghosts crawling all around him.  
This park probably wasn't the safest place to hang out at night, if the amount of muggings gone wrong nearby were anything to go by.  
But the moon was pretty tonight, huge and bright, and not colliding into the earth. 

"What the fuck?!" 

Normally that wasn't the reaction ghosts had to Klaus, so he turned around, wondering if he had encountered a living human despite the late hour, if maybe one of his siblings had gone after him. 

Suddenly it felt like all the air had left his lungs.  
Klaus gasped, a sharp pain stinging in his chest as he coiled over, spilling vodka everywhere. 

It was a ghost, the only one who wasn't crying or moaning, standing right in front of Klaus. 

"Dave?", he choked out.

Dave looked exactly like Klaus remembered him, the day he had died.  
Dave's eyes widened in surprise "You can see me?" 

Klaus chucked wetly, unable to stop the tears from flowing "Yeah, yeah, I- Dave"  
It wasn't often that Klaus didn't have some sort of bullshit to spit, but Dave tended to have an effect on him. Dave, his Dave, in the year 2019. He had waited. 

Dave furrowed his brows in that adorable way of his and sat down next to Klaus on the park bench.  
"Uh, Klaus, right? How do you still look the same?", he asked.  
"I, it's a long story.  
I've been trying to conjure you, back- back in", the words got stuck in Klaus' throat. His hands were shaking. 

All of the sudden he could breathe but it felt like there was too much air in his lungs, all his organs were tied in knots, and yet he had never felt better. 

Until Dave asked "Why?"

What little color had been left in Klaus' face drained. 

"I mean, you were right, I guess.", Dave continued, oblivious to the pain he was causing the other, "I did die in Vietnam, exactly where you said I would. Are you a vampire?" 

"A vampire?", Klaus echoed. 

His grip around the glass bottle tightened until his knuckles where white, and he chugged its remainders until he felt like he was going to vomit the burning liquor right back up. 

"Well, you look the same as you did in the sixties. You can predict the future and see ghosts, apparently. Maybe a witch?", Dave tried to guess again.  
Although he was oblivious as to why Klaus reacting so poorly, he still seemed concerned when Klaus once again took a huge gulp of vodka, finally finishing off the bottle. 

"Woah there", he tried to pat Klaus' back as he coughed, but his hand went right through Klaus' shoulder, leaving nothing but a lingering cold sensation.

"You've had a lot to drink, I think", Dave commented, "I'm not sure, actually. I have been dead for a while, but I think a whole bottle is a lot" 

Klaus buried his face in his hands, digging his nails into his skin.  
"Fuck", he sobbed, "Fuck, I- I'm sorry, Dave" 

"You have nothing to apologize for", the ghost shrugged.  
Klaus, despite the state of he was in, could picture Dave's expression right now, that sympathetic look in his eyes.  
He had always been so patient with Klaus, never condemned him for his habits or anything else, and always helped him out, from the very moment Klaus dropped into the middle of the war. 

He couldn't stand the thought of a Dave that wasn't his, a Dave that remembered him only as the crazy cult leader who had stalked him, looking at him like that. But unfortunately Dave didn't have a single bad bone in his body and extended his kindness to anybody who needed it. That was what was so special about him. 

"I mean, if anything, I should apologize. If I had listened to you, I wouldn't have died, I guess.", Dave continued, hoping it would comfort Klaus. 

Klaus moaned. He removed his hands from his face, fresh blood caking below a few of his nails.  
"I can't deal with this", he muttered, "I can't deal with this" 

He tried to get up, but his legs weren't cooperating with him anymore, and he ended up falling into the gravel road, tiny stones poking into his palms, knees and face, but Klaus could barely feel it.

"I'm sorry", Dave apologized again, "I didn't want to freak you out" 

He still seemed determined to touch Klaus, or maybe he had just forgotten he couldn't. 

Klaus had very little control over his powers at the best of times and he had thought manifesting a ghost in a fall-over-drunk state would be impossible, but Dave succeeded in pulling him to his legs this time. Klaus collapsed back onto the bench, Dave's hand still pressing against his chest. He seemed very impressed by this development.

"How did I do that?", Dave stared at his hands in disbelief, "Am I going crazy? Did I finally get into the afterlife?"  
Klaus shook his head weakly but was unable to form words and explain. 

Everything hurt, but it was not the fall or the alcohol.  
The pain radiated from his chest, taking over his entire body, making it hard to move or even breathe. 

And Klaus was pretty sure no drug in the world would be able to dull it. 

He didn't remember when or how he got back to the motel. He didn't remember if he talked to his siblings or how he ended up curled up in bed.  
But Dave's words kept ringing in his mind until he fell asleep. That single, earnest "Why?" haunted his dreams.


	2. limbo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter kinda went a way i didnt rly vibe w so i had to delete a chunk but i procrastinated rewriting tht part for like two days & then i realized it was getting to long anyways so this is kinda a filler chapter now sry  
> also i started editing it but shit didn't save and then i got drunk nd finally finished it lol this is not how u do these things i think  
> but u kno shit's rough when ur getting drunk w ur dad nd his wife  
> anyway i ll upload this nd get my ass 2 sleep ty so much 2 any1 who commented on the 1st chapter nd every1 whos enjoying this shitfest so far

Five rudely shook Klaus awake only a few hours after he had fallen asleep.

The world was tilting uncomfortably when he sat up.

"Would it have killed you to be presentable for one fucking day", Five complained when he saw the state his brother was in, the messy hair and eyeliner smeared all over his cheeks. Klaus' eyes were swollen and his lips a dark red, the way they always got after he had too much to drink. 

Klaus didn't reply, he was too focused on not throwing up all over the rug. 

Emptying the contents of his stomach into the toilet when he finally managed to claim the bathroom a bit later didn't help much. He still felt like shit and everything still hurt. 

Five had somehow obtained a suit for him and Klaus didn't even question where he got his measurements or complained about the utter boringness of the fucking thing.  
He just quietly put it on and washed the remainders of eyeliner off his face. 

"It suits you", Dave commented.  
He had left the room while Klaus changed but had returned now. 

Klaus winced but pretended not to hear him. 

He couldn't handle this, he simply couldn't.  
Once upon a time Dave's voice had been the only thing that could ground him after a nightmare or a long, death-filled day. Now hearing it felt like the knife being twisted in his chest. 

Why Dave had decided to stick around in the first place he didn't know and didn't bother to ask.  
Whatever the answer was, it would only hurt.

Allison tried to comb through Klaus' tangled hair, and forced him to chew some gum before she announced she would come along to the bank to do the majority of the talking. It was probably the best decision either way, but Klaus was really in no state to handle this on his own.  
If everything went south, she could nudge reality along a bit with her rumors. 

"No one's gonna believe you're my wife", Klaus commented, but he didn't see the humor in it he would usually have.  
"You look pretty straight in that suit", she joked and when Klaus failed to retort, instead staring into the empty space next to him, Allison sighed.  
"You can't keep doing this", she whispered softly, patting his cheek, "I shouldn't have let you drink when you came to - to me. I should have gotten you help, I'm sorry"  
Klaus did not agree - it was not her fault at all. But he didn't want to discuss his relapse with Dave's ghost around.  
"That's a problem for another day", he mumbled, burying his face in her chest and wrapping an arm around her. 

The pair left the motel looking, as Maggie would have put it, "dapper". 

Klaus was sure he had been in the bank before, back in the sixties.  
He might have accompanied Maggie there once or twice when she went to withdraw what she jokingly called his allowance. 

Allison had brought all the documents they required, like Maggie's last will, that Five had stolen from the town archives last night, and a not at all real birth certificate claiming Klaus to be his own fucking son. 

It was a lot to take in for the bank manager, whom the woman at the counter called once Allison and Klaus had explained the reason of their visit.

Someone coming to claim the fifty year old inheritance of the crazy old lady who had devoted her life to a mysterious messiah. And, to make things worse, the couple shared a last name with the famous Sparrow Academy. They were still a famous superhero in this timeline, and better at what they did then the Umbrella Academy had ever been.

Klaus let Allison do most of the talking, as she had planned to anyway.  
He followed Dave out of the corner of his eyes as he curiously looked around the office.  
Klaus didn't want to look at him, but he also couldn't stop looking, just to make sure Dave was still there. Because, despite everything, Dave was here, with him.  
Even if they had never shared those ten months in Vietnam this was still Dave, the guy he had fallen hopelessly, stupidly, head-over-heels in love with, and whom he had failed to save two times now. 

"I heard a rumor",Allison whispered, "you are comfortable giving us the inheritance"  
The manager's eyes glazed over in a familiar shade of white. Without saying another word he signed the papers, handing over not only a huge fortune but also Maggie's mansion to them. 

"Five's gonna be happy", Allison hummed when they left the building, twirling the keys around her finger. 

"Yeah", Klaus nodded absentmindedly, "Yeah, uh, listen, I got places to be. I'll meet you back in the motel"

Before Allison could argue he was already walking away. 

"Where are you going?", Dave asked, although he could make a pretty good guess.  
He had to break into a ghostly half jog to keep pace with Klaus, who was walking as quickly as possible without being suspicious. 

"You'll see, Dave", Klaus promised. For once he had a goal on mind and he barely acknowledged the world around him. 

It didn't take long to find who he was looking for. 

A ghost, with bloodshot eyes and darkened veins was hanging out in a side alley by the dumpsters of a convenience store.  
He was young, barely twenty, and had bleached blonde hair. 

"Hey", Klaus waved his HELLO-hand at the ghost, who startled.  
"What's your name?", Klaus asked, forcing himself to look at the guy and smile. 

Ghosts who died from overdosing were often only half-coherent, and Klaus thought it wasn't actually too bad - die while you're high, be high forever. Sounded great to him. 

"Pete", the ghost replied, vomit dribbling down his chin as he spoke.  
Klaus pretended to be unbothered.  
"Nice to meet you, Pete", he smiled, "How long have you been here?" 

Been dead., but ghosts sometimes freaked out when they heard that word. They didn't like the reminder. 

Pete looked around, like he had forgotten what shady back alley he had been haunting. 

"Two weeks"

Klaus' smile grew wider. Just like he had hoped. 

"Great. One last question: where did you get the wonderful stuff that killed you?" 

Pete gave him the phone number of a guy - he had it memorized, which was impressive and incredibly convenient to Klaus.  
He scribbled it down on his forearm. 

"Thanks, Pete", Klaus was genuinely pleased, "and by the way, go into the light", he said before skipping out of the alley. 

"What are you going to do now?", Dave asked.  
Klaus looked at him properly for the first time that day.  
"I'm going to get soo high", his smile was growing wider the more he though about it. His limbs were tingling with excitement. The mere thoughts of finally getting what he had craved for so long made him feel much better already. 

He didn't get that far though. 

Klaus called the guy, who seemed, rightfully, suspicious of a stranger calling him for a payphone asking, almost beginning, for a hook-up.  
Klaus claimed to be a friend of Pete's, which only made things worse.  
Pete's dealer seemed to know of the youth's tragic fate and didn't seem to eager to help his friends down the same road. 

But business was business.  
Klaus managed to convince the guy to meet up in half an hour, just before his time on the payphone ran out. 

He had barely made it down the street, when with a pop Five appeared in front of him, grabbing him by the sleeve of the now slightly crumbled-up suit he was still wearing.  
Klaus tried to pull out of his grip, but to no avail.  
"Where do you think you're going, Mister", Five growled.  
"Hey, let me go", Klaus protested, but Five's grip was too strong for him. Five was already dragging him along in the wrong direction. 

"I have an appointment", Klaus whined, "Let me go, Fivey. You're hurting me" 

"Allison said you ran off to get drugs, and i think she was right", Five shot him a disapproving glare and kept walking. 

"You don't know that!"  
But he couldn't really deny it. 

"You're coming back to the motel with me", Five asserted, "We're checking out, by the way. We're moving into the mansion"  
Klaus' stomach twisted at the mere thought of going back there. 

"Isn't it a ruin by now?", Klaus asked, trying not to sound too hopeful. 

He finally managed to dig his heels into the ground and he stopped in his track. Five, thankfully, did so too, because otherwise he would have slammed Klaus into the road, since he was way too stubborn to move his feet.  
People were looking at them already, a mix of concern and curiosity, but neither of the Hargreeves paid them any mind. 

"Kind of, but it'll do. Plus, renovating will keep you idiots busy and I can work", Five said, kindly as always. 

"Will you give up already?!", he hissed at Klaus, who still stood firmly in place, after almost a minute of the two glaring at each other. 

"No", Klaus shrugged, "You could just let me do my thing and go back to your oh so important stuff, and I promise I will be at the mansion in the evening"

It was a test.  
When he was younger Klaus would shamelessly roll joints at dinner and complain to his siblings about the prices of coke.  
Eventually his addiction became to glaringly obvious to be something he just did on the weekends, don't worry about it.  
It became one of the many things the Hargreeves didn't dare speak of. Not loudly at least, only hushed whispers behind his back and tearful pleads in the middle of the night he tried to brush off.  
At the same time the world had been falling apart around them and once Ben died, Klaus was left entirely to his own devices.  
After his first overdose his siblings stopped talking to him completely. 

No one had ever tried to really deal with Klaus' addiction, even if, occasionally, Diego tried to talk some sense into him when they ran into each other in the City, years after leaving the Academy. 

Now he just needed to know how much he could get away with with his siblings all crammed in the same house, dedicated to being a family. 

Five and Klaus stared at each other for almost five minutes, passerbys switching to the other side of the street to avoid them. 

"Fine", Five growled, letting go of him "Do what you want"  
"Great", Klaus smiled, rubbing his wrist, pleased with himself, "Can you give me some of my grand fortune though?"

It seemed Five had already managed to go to an ATM, and he begrudgingly gave Klaus a few bills. It was his money, after all.  
As usual, other things were more important than Klaus, and it didn't bother him at all. Hadn't in a long while. 

"I listened to your, uh, siblings, I guess, while you were asleep. You're a time traveller, right?", Dave asked when Klaus was finally on his way to his original destination, bills clutched tightly in his fist. It was his first real chance to talk to Klaus. 

Klaus nodded.  
He kept to himself that his first experience with time travel had very heavily involved Dave.  
It didn't matter anymore. 

"That's cool"  
"Not really", Klaus shrugged.  
So far time travel had only ruined his life, even though many people would have claimed it was impossible to ruin it even more than he himself already had. 

"Is that why you can see me?", Dave asked. He had a lot of questions. 

"No, that's another thing" 

"Oh, okay. Why did you and your little brother argue?" 

Klaus stopped walking and turned to fully face Dave.  
"Why do you keep asking me questions?"  
He hadn't wanted to ask that and he didn't have near enough alcohol in his blood to blame it on that.  
He had intended to not ask Dave anything at all, to keep himself from being hurt again. 

Fuck, he needed to get high.  
He needed to get high so bad.  
He knew it would make him feel better, finally lessen the pain. 

"Sorry", Dave apologized habitually, "I didn't meant to make you uncomfortable"  
"You aren't -", Klaus stopped himself mid-sentence.  
Dave could never make him uncomfortable.  
But it hurt too much - that he was there and he didn't remember, had never lived it. But he couldn't tell Dave that. 

Back in the old timeline Klaus had gotten sober after years and years of using just to conjure Dave's ghost and he had never succeeded.  
Now, in this wretched timeline, Dave's ghost was right there, and he didn't fucking remember - because it had never happened. 

"I didn't go with my brother", Klaus explained, "because he thinks he cares but he doesn't. And he definitely doesn't know what I need so - yeah" 

"Drugs?", Dave asked, "You ditched your family, who needs you, to buy drugs?"  
Klaus waved him off "Oh, shut up. I used to have Ben for that kind of shit"  
He didn't anymore though. Towards the end Ben had been bitter. He had resented Klaus, rightfully though, for all his bad choices. But the thought of Dave becoming the same way was infinitely more terrifying.  
The other Dave would have never judged him.  
The other Dave knew everything, about the nightmares, the neverending angst in Klaus' head, his shitty family who didn't care, and that Klaus could fix it all with drugs. Of course Dave had never encouraged him to take anything, he didn't like it either, but he had never judged him. He simply knew that quitting wasn't as easy as snapping his finger and simply deciding to stop. 

Klaus kept walking, once again opting to ignore Dave, until he had finally gotten his hands on what he needed.  
Weed, molly and cocaine. It was wonderful. He had bought enough to last him a while, but decided to stay away from the really hard stuff - for now. 

For the first time since arriving in Dallas Klaus felt like he was going to be okay.  
His pockets were filled with the good stuff, the shit that would make the world a lot smoother around the edges and make Klaus feel infinitely lighter. 

He remembered the way to the mansion, even in the changed city, and shovelled a pill into his mouth before getting on his way. 

Somehow Klaus arrived at the mansion before his siblings. He climbed over the fence and walked through the garden, once well-kept, and now a wild jungle, weeds growing up to his hips. 

Five had been right.  
The house was falling apart.  
Apparently the last official inhabitant had been the last members of Klaus' cult in the nineties, until they eventually moved on as well.  
Some of them, Klaus suspected, were probably still alive, maybe even in Dallas, but he had no interest in ever seeing them again. 

Honestly, it probably would be easier to tear the house down and build a new one than renovate it.  
The lock had been broken, the door left wide open. When Klaus entered the place was trashed and graffiti decorated the cracking walls.  
Squatters and rebellious youth must have entered it over the years, Klaus found remnants of camp fires and even a rotting sleeping bag.  
On the wall, hidden behind a thick layer of dust, a familiar painting mocked him.  
The old couch had almost completely turned to dust, only the iron springs remaining, but Klaus didn't care. He sat down on, the springs digging into his bony ass and back, and started rolling a joint.  
There was no surface that felt acceptable to snort coke off, not even to Klaus, so weed and another pill would have to do the job. (It wasn't the best idea to mix so many substances anyway, but Klaus did not care.) 

By the time his siblings trickled in, Luther carrying a single cardboard box that, depressingly enough, contained almost all their belongings, Klaus was pleasantly strung out and Dave had given up on talking to him for now. 

Still, Klaus knew he wouldn't be getting rid of him any time soon.  
It was the last thing he wanted to do anyway. He wanted to keep Dave around forever, for once have his awful powers work in his favor, manifest him so he could finally kiss him again. Except he couldn't do any of that.  
It wasn't possible, not in this timeline. 

Ghosts flocked to Klaus like moths to the light, even without any personal connection.  
Dave might just be interested in the one guy he could interact him, that's why he stuck around, but a hopeful little voice in the back auf Klaus' mind whispered there could be more there, that, despite everything, they were meant to be, and that's why Dave had stayed a ghost for the last fifty years now, waiting. 

"Bullshit", Klaus whispered to the voice.  
Luther glared at him, as if to say "Yes, you are indeed" 

Living in Maggie's mansion reminded Klaus of being in the Umbrella Academy in the worst of ways.  
Sure, Reginald was on the other side of the country, but sometimes his siblings were even more annoying then their father who just blatantly didn't give a fuck about them as people and treated them as experiments instead.  
Dave was still around too, insisting on talking to Klaus and caring about him, and Klaus still hadn't found a way to feel better about the whole thing. 

He wished they had never come to Dallas.  
He wished Maggie had had kids or someone else to give her money to.  
He visited her grave, just once, because Klaus still hated cemeteries. Maggie didn't bother to show up to give him some answers, and Klaus childishly cursed her grave for not showing up to her blessed prophet. It wasn't his best moment. 

He alternated between ignoring his siblings, ignoring Dave and ignoring both. Getting drunk, getting high and both.  
Nothing really made him feel better anymore.  
Sometimes he wanted to tell Dave, who kept asking about his time travel adventures anyway, everything, but it felt pointlessly cruel. 

Dave had never lived that life.  
Dave had died young, in a senseless war, and never fallen in love.  
What was he, a ghost for over fifty years now, supposed to do with the information that in some vague alternative reality he and Klaus had loved each other? That they had dedicated themselves to each other, body and soul, sworn to eternity and made plans to build a future together?  
It would just creep him out, probably, and surely wouldn't make these feelings return. It might make him leave even, at that scared the shit out of Klaus. 

He didn't know how long they had been in Dallas by now. Days faded into weeks and it might have been months already, but probably not. It was still hot, as it had been when they arrived. The mansion was too warm, no AC to speak of, and the air was sticky and hard to breath in, like filling his lungs with cement. 

Five kept obsessing over time travel. Allison and Vanya cooked and baked together and laughed together and it was great to see them be sisters, to see Vanya finally being included in the family. Because she deserved it, Sweet Little Vanya.  
Luther ate the girls' cooking, even the cookies they burned a little, edges black and hard, and the pumpkin soup they put too much salt in, and he went out on patrols with Diego. Their dear number Two still needed to save everyone and that's what he did, going out night after night, running around in yet another stupid outfit with his precious knives.  
They all found something to do. 

And Klaus, well, Klaus had his drugs, and his booze and his ghosts. It was fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shit will go down in the next chapter i promise klaus just needs to push everything faaar down @ first
> 
> i know next to nothing about purchasing or taking drugs myself nd i dont rly plan 2 change that so sorry if its unrealistic  
>  also i think about the "overdosing probably" line from the light supper a lot bc i think it shows perfectly how his siblings deal w/ klaus - they do worry abt him but they hv kinda given up & i don't blame them i think they hv their own shit to work through and klaus doesn't rly want 2 b helped w anything, he has prbly showed thm tht in the past. tht doesnt mean he doesn't need help or that he is to blame 4 his addiction but no one is in the state to help him :(

**Author's Note:**

> my ua tumblr is @prime8svevo if u wanna check it out 🥺


End file.
